Truman’s Special Envoy Reports Position of Displaced Jews in Germany is “adequate”

November 29, 1945

Washington (Nov. 28)

The position of Jewish displaced persons in “settlements” in Germany was reported to be adequate by Byron Price, former director of the office of censorship, in a memorandum released today by President Truman.

Price want to Germany as a special representative of the President to study the relationship between the American occupation forces and the German people, and submitted his report to the President on Nov. 9. “These unfortunate people are not living under the best of conditions,” he reported, “but I received no complaints of physical suffering.”

Price said that at the special request of General Eisenhower, he visited, during October, several of the centers which house the remaining 400,000 displaced persons in the American zone, four of which were reserved for Jews. These are located at Stuttpart, Feldafing, Wolfratshausen and Deggendorf.

“None of these is a ‘camp’ in the ordinary sense,” Price declared. “With few exceptions the buildings are of permanent winterized construction, mostly stone or brick, equipped with hospitals and community kitchens, and heated. The residents are free to come and go at will. In only one instance did I observe overcrowding and that situation was being remedied. There appeared to be no serious shortage of medicines, clothing or blankets, but nowhere was there sufficient cleaning material. The official records showed a daily ration of 2,300 to 3,800 calories, far in excess of the European average.”